[Snow Crystal]
A self-educated farmer from Jericho, Vermont, Bentley was a pioneer in the field of photomicrography. Using a microscope fitted to a bellows camera, he was the first to photograph a single snowflake. For over half a century, he pursued his obsession with the unique forms of snow crystals, cataloguing the endless variations on a basic hexagonal structure. In addition to their formal beauty, Bentley's photographs are fine examples of a typological approach in photography-the use of the camera to collect, describe, and classify the myriad facts of the visual world.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Snow Crystal]
- Artist: Wilson Alwyn Bentley (American, 1865–1931)
- Date: ca. 1910
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 7.4 x 9 cm (2 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Josh Rosenthal Fund, 2005
- Object Number: 2005.55.3
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Wilson Alwyn Bentley
ca. 1910
Wilson Alwyn Bentley
ca. 1910
Wilson Alwyn Bentley
ca. 1910
Wilson Alwyn Bentley
ca. 1910
Wilson Alwyn Bentley
1890s–1920s
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